Friday, September 2, 2011

First Two Weeks of First Grade

Well we've officially wrapped up 2 weeks of school today. Time sure does fly! Doodle has settled into First Grade quite nicely and is doing wonderful. Last night we had parent night at her school and I touched base with her teacher. I had my concerns about Doodle's ability to focus and keep up with her class, especially since she is no longer on an Individual Education Plan this year and receives no special services. The teacher was happy to report that for the most part, Doodle is keeping up and hasn't had nearly the attention issue she struggled with last year. That's great news! I hope it continues throughout the year.

I'm wondering if she is focusing better this year because she is more mature or if it is because we modified her diet again and removed corn? I've read many articles that list yellow foods as one source of ADD/ADHD.So, we decided to take Doodle off of corn this summer and see how she reacted. This one was a bit harder to implement, since we typically ate mixed vegetables that included corn at every dinner - and Doodle LOVES corn. I now have to buy beans, peas, carrots separately and make my own mixed vegetables for dinner. She sometimes complains that she really wants to eat corn again, and I feel bad as a parent that I have to keep removing from her diet all of the foods she loves: dairy, eggs, and now corn. She is a trooper about it all, however. Her teacher said she is very good about saying what she can and cannot eat at snack time. She's probably the only child in her class who understands the ingredients in the food she can/cannot eat.

To determine if Doodle truly has an issue with corn, I really should re-introduce it into her diet for a few days and see what happens. Do I dare? I don't want to send her backwards in school if she is doing so well - maybe we'll wait until a holiday break and try it then. I'll let you know how it turns out.